Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew insists their injury problems are due to bad luck.

The side he sent out at West Brom on Saturday was missing keeper Tim Krul, full-back Davide Santon, Coloccini and holding midfielder Cheick Tiote, while playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa was fit enough only to be used as a substitute, and Sylvain Marveaux and Ryan Taylor were unavailable to him too.

However, Pardew is confident the plague of injuries is the result of misfortune rather than anything the club is doing wrong.

He said: "We have got a good medical team here. In all seasons, there are one or two [injuries] perhaps you could have prevented by holding them back, and maybe that's something we will look at."